All Forum Posts by: Albert Johnson

I may be in the minority and as a small landlord it is easier but I tend to be flexible with good tenants who have the occasional struggle. I'd ask them if this is a short term thing or if they feel the place is no longer affordable and if no longer affordable let them out of the lease. If this is a one off I'd work with them, get an addendum in writing as to how and when they will catch up. I had one tenant who on a few occasions would pay whatever they could afford for the present month and spread the rest out over the following 3 or 6 months. They always paid as agreed upon. It didn't hurt me financially, I kept a good tenant and felt like I was doing the decent thing as a human being. 

@Albert Johnson sounds great, but wholesalers will lock you into a contract with the hope of selling it off to someone else and pocket the difference. They promise you the world and most of the time they cannot deliver. Definitely ask for a POF and make sure that the initial deposit in large, placed into escrow and is non-refundable after their short initial inspection period.

@Albert Johnson What is the condition of your home? You should only want to sell your home to a wholesaler if it requires major repairs and you need the money ASAP. You will always get more if you put it on the MLS. Where is the home at?

Good Investing...

It's just hard to prove that the tenant caused the issue, since as time passes the drain tends to accumulates as well. However, if it clogs again within 1-2 months then I believe it would be fair to charge the tenant.

The water may be backing up from another fixture that is not draining properly. The only way you're going to know about the cause one way or the other is to have a plumber inspect and troubleshoot. We have a clause in our lease that plumbing clogs not caused by mechanical/material defects in the plumbing will be charged to the tenant, and if your lease doesn't have similar I would recommend such a clause. If a tenant has a clog and calls, we remind them of this clause and then go ahead and call our plumber, who fixes it and reports back. Sometimes it's not the tenant's fault - tree roots, collapsed pipe, old materials from a previous tenant, etc. If it's a gray area, we usually cover the service call the first time. If there's a second call for the same issue we have the line camera'd to verify the line is in good shape and that it is clear going forward, and charge the tenant if the clog was their fault but do not charge if we discover a mechanical defect; we fix the defect. 

If you've recently had it unclogged and know it was fine when they moved in, yes.  But if there is a chance that the previous person could have done something and it just became dislodged and blocked it, no.  Go over and see if you can put liquid plumber or something in it to clear it....take a snake and plunger just in case.

This is a common tactic used by tenants that just want to move. It has to be handled in the proper way. We have never had a tenant that was able to produce any factual data that supports their concerns. We have a lease break fee that they can execute at any time, so, we guide them towards that. 

Everyone likes to talk about suing, but reality says that no one is going to sue anyone. Tenants don't have spare money sitting around, why would you think suing would do anything but cost you money and time? It is better to find a win/win as you cannot force them to stay.